The decision of King & Spalding to bail out of the controversy surrounding the Defense of Marriage Act continues to have a ripple effect, with Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli notifying the firm that his office was ending its relationship with it because of the firm’s “obsequious act of weakness.”
On Monday, the firm said it was not going to represent the U.S. House of Representatives after all as Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) leads a defense of the law, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, following the Obama administration’s decision to no longer defend the law in court.
The firm’s switch immediately triggered the resignation of partner Paul Clement, former Solicitor General (see Main Justice’s account).
In a letter to firm partner Joseph Lynch, which was obtained by The Washington Examiner and also reported on by The Huffington Post on Friday, Cuccinelli said the firm’s change of stance was “such an obsequious act of weakness that I feel compelled to end your legal association with Virginia so that there is no chance that one of my legal clients will be put in the embarrassing and difficult situation like the client you walked away from, the House of Representatives.”
Cuccinelli told Lynch that “your firm utterly lacks” the qualities of commitment, courage, strength and toughness necessary for effective lawyers.
Well, here’s a new one. First time I’ve ever agreed with something Cuchinelli’s done. Fired the cringing, gutness wonders at K & S. Where did K & S get the idea they could dump a client like that? Definitely not in best traditions of the bar. Atticus Finch would not be proud.